The Rascals - Once Upon a Dream

The Ras­cals, for­merly known as The Young Ras­cals, are one of the most influ­en­tial, and artis­ti­cally impor­tant Amer­i­can bands in Rock and Roll his­tory. In a time dom­i­nated by the Eng­lish rock acts of the British Inva­sion, The Ras­cals not only sur­vived but thrived.

The post-​twist New York, New Jer­sey, and Long Island club scenes bred the band, an out­fit whose sound grew more sophis­ti­cated as time went on but stayed rooted in the blue-​eyed soul that was its first rea­son for being. At first a hard-​hitting band rem­i­nis­cent of the early Ani­mals, the Ras­cals drew from the same well that fed the then-​burgeoning garage rock scene.

They would go on to lead the way for Blue Eyed Soul to Folk Rock to Protest to Civil Rights, blend­ing white Pop melodies with black soul and R&B mus­cle. Though they never bran­dished their pol­i­tics like some bands, the Ras­cals truly lived theirs, fight­ing dis­crim­i­na­tion by demand­ing that a black act appear on the bill at each of its concerts.

Their music would span the entire decade from the early Go-​Go dance par­ties right through the psy­che­delic era — and beyond.

The band released numer­ous top ten sin­gles in the mid– and late-​1960s, includ­ing “How Can I Be Sure”, “Come On Up”, “You Bet­ter Run”, “I’ve Been Lonely Too Long”, “Beau­ti­ful Morn­ing”, and the #1 hits “Good Lovin’”, “Groovin’”, and “Peo­ple Got to Be Free”.

They went their sep­a­rate ways in the early 70’s, finally reunit­ing for one night in May of 1997 when Steven Van Zandt inducted them into the pres­ti­gious Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

And now the day music his­to­ri­ans never thought would hap­pen, The Ras­cals’ orig­i­nal lineup — Felix Cav­a­liere, Gene Cor­nish, Eddie Brigati and Dino Danelli — have reunited for their first pub­lic per­for­mances in 40 years with “Once Upon A Dream,” a com­bi­na­tion concert/​theatrical event pro­duced and directed by Steven Van Zandt and lighting/​projection wiz­ard Marc Brick­man. Ladies and Gentleman.…THE RAS­CALS ARE BACK!